Siege of Fort Ticonderoga

The Siege of Fort Ticonderoga (2-6 July 1777) was the first action of the Saratoga campaign of the American Revolutionary War. The British and Indian army under John Burgoyne captured Fort Ticonderoga with few losses, and King George III prematurely celebrated the defeat of the Americans after hearing the news of the fort's capture.

In the summer of 1777, General Burgoyne marched south from Canada with 7,000 British Army regulars and 800 Canadian militia and Iroquois warriors. Their first objective was Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain, and the British artillery officer William Phillips devised a plan: the British would occupy the steep Mount Defiance, which the Americans had neglected to fortify. The British succeeded in the task of hauling their artillery up the mountain's steep slopes, giving them the advantage. After just a few shots and deaths, the garrison of Fort Ticonderoga, commanded by Arthur St. Clair, surrendered. The uncontested surrender of Fort Ticonderoga caused public uproar in America, and Generals St. Clair and his superior, Philip Schuyler, were both court-martialled, but later exonerated; nevertheless, their military careers were tainted. Schuyler was replaced as the Continental Army's commander in New York by Horatio Gates, while St. Clair was deprived of a command for the rest of the war.